Buffing mechanism for railway-cars.



R. D. GALLAGHER, Jn. BUPPING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAYGARS. APPLIOATION IILED 001'. 21, 1910.

ll Ill; |l|||| Patented Feb.2( 1912.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAFH CO., WASHINGTON. D. c.

R. D. GALLAGHER, JR. BUPPIVNG MEGHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS. APPLICATION FILED 001221, 1910.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

4 SHEBTSSHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 110., WASHINGTON. D. c. l

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 21, 1910 Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

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mm FLANOGRAPH C0" WASHINGTON, n. c.

R. D. GALLAGHER, JR. BUFPING MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED 00121, 1910.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

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alllL cuLuMBm PLANOGRAPH to" WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

RICHARD D. GALLAGHER, J R., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO STANDARD COUPLER COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

:enrrnve MECHANISM roe RAILWAY-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Application filed October 21, 1910. Serial No. 588,358.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD D. GALLA- GI-IER, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have 1n vented certain new and useful Improvements in Bufiing Mechanism for Railway- Cars; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of th1s specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to bufling mechanism for railway cars, and more especially to that type of buifing mechanism in which the yielding pressure resisting members are located intermediate the buffer beam and end sill of the car, said yielding members being housed or supported by castings wh1ch in themselves brace and strengthenthe car structure and distribute the loads so as to obtain a maximum efficiency with a mini mum weight of material.

Objects of the invention, in addition to securing the advantages of a structure such as just pointed out, are to provide a structure in which the housing castings for the yielding members may be of simple design, readily cast without complicated molds and without setting up stresses in the metal which would tend to reduce their resistance to destructive strains.

A further object is to provide a structure in which excessive strains when the yielding members go solid shall be transmitted directly to the end sill of the car without distorting or imposing lateral strains upon the castings bridged between the end sill and bufier beam.

The invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts, all as will be now described and pointed out particularly in the appended claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawingsz-Figure 1 is a top plan view, onehalf in section on a horizontal plane, of a buffing mechanism embodying the present improvements. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the same, one-half in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a transverse section in a plane indicated generally by the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 1, the center springs being shown in elevation, one of the side stem followers being removed and the one side stem shown in section. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section in a central vertical plane. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of one of the housing castings detached. Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the housing, shown in Fig. 5. Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are a plan View, an end elevation and a side elevation, respectively, of a modified form of spring cup casting to be interposed between the yielding members of the buffing mechanism and the end sill of the car and adapted to receive relatively long twin coil springs in 'lieu of the coil and leaf springs, shown in Figs. 1 and 4.

Like letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

In said drawings, the letter A indicates the end sill of the car, B the buffer beam, and C, C C and C longitudinal sills or I-beams which extend beneath the end sill of the car and buffer beam and to which the buffer beam is secured by appropriate bolts and fastenings. To afford additional strength or support for the buffer beam and to connect the longitudinal sills rigidly to-' gether, an angle iron D is located against the rear face of the buffer beam with its bottom flange bolted or riveted to the flanges of the longitudinal sills. This angle iron is preferably flanged or deflected downwardly, as at (Z, in Fig. 4, to accommodate the front follower E against which the center stem 6 rests. The center stem 6 bears against the center of the rear face of the buffer F and to the opposite ends of said buffer there are pivotally connected side stems f in the well understood manner, all of said stems passing back through the buffer beam into position for their inner ends to cooperate with the yielding pressure resisting members of the buffing mechanism.

In accordance with the present invention there are interposed between the buffer beam and end sill of the car, a pair of castings, each forming one-half or side of the housing for the-yielding or movable members of the buffer mechanism, and at their rear ends connected by a transverse casting which is preferably in the form of a spring cup for receiving and holding the rear ends of the rear or inner buffer spring. The said castings each forming one-half of the housing and support are indicated generally by the reference letter G and one of said parts is shown detached in Figs. 5 and 6. Each casting comprises a longitudinally extending body portion which at its forward end face 9 is adapted to abut against the inner face of the buffer beam or the angle iron secured thereon and at its rear face or end 9 to abut against the front face of the end sill. Near its outer end it is provided on the inner side with top and bottdm longitudinally extending horizontal flanges 9 best seen in Fig. 2, which form between them ways for the reception of a floating spring barrel E.

On the outer side of each casing G at an intermediate point, is an outwardly extending portion or bracket G forming a housing for one of the side stem followers K. The followers are inserted in the housings through top openings in and are preferably square or substantially rectangular while the openings for the reception of the side stems f and rear ends of the side stem springs 7c are round, as shown in Fig. 6, whereby the followers will be retained in the housings or chambers in the housings to limit the outward movement of the side stems and form the abutments against which the springs rest to resist inward movement of the side stems and buffer. It will he noted, however, that the side stem springs are so proportioned that they do not go solid in any permissible inward movement of the buffer, thus the side castings G of the housing will not be subjected to excessive lateral strains under severe buffing impact.

Each casting G rests on the top flanges of the longitudinal sills or I-beams and is secured by bolts or rivets 0, all of which rivets are preferably located near the outer ends of the castings or in proximity to the buffer beam so as to avoid, as far as possible, any weakening of the I-beams adjacent the end sill of the car or at the point where they are most liable to fail under extreme conditions.

Bridging the space between the inner ends of the castings G is a bridge or spring cup casting L, which casting L seats squarely against the outer face of the end sill of the car and is adapted to receive and support the inner ends of twin buffer springs J. The inner ends of the castings G and the extremities of the spring cup casting or bridge are formed to interlock in such manner as to resist independent lateral movement, but the spring cup or bridge casting is free to transmit the pressure of the buffing mechanism to the end sill of the car without imposing lateral strains upon the side castings G. In the preferred construction, the rear ends of the side castings G are formed in cross-section, as shown in Fig. 3, wherein it will be seen that each casting G has a projection G over and around which passes a hook like extension L of the cup or bridge casting L thus interlocking the parts to resist independent lateral movement and at the same time permitting the spring cup or bridge casting to transmit bufling pressure directly to the end sill of the car, as before pointed out. Ordinarily, and as shown in Figs. 1 to 4:, there are no bolts or fastenings between the spring cup or bridge castings and side castings, but in this form of invention the spring cup or bridge casting is held in place by vertical bolts Z which pass down through the casting between the I-beams and at the lower ends engage a bottom plate M which is bridged between the webs of the I-beams.

l Vhere the form of bufling mechanism shown in Figs. 1 to f is employed, that is to say, with leaf friction springs N and inter mediate follower N interposed between the floating barrel H and inner springs J, as in my Patent No. 978,873, these intermediate parts of the buffing mechanism will be supported by ways or strips 0 secured to the upper face of the bottom plate M, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. Top guides for these parts are formed by strap-irons O which extend from the bolts Z forwardly to the upper flange 9 of the castings G. The intermediate movable parts of the bufling mechanism are thus confined or held against vertical movement but are free to move longitudinally of the car to perform their proper function in resisting bufling strains. here the intermediate parts are not employed, but ordinary simple twin springs are employed, at the inner end of the bufling mechanism with a floating barrel interposed between said springs and the forward center stem spring P, the form of spring cup or bridge casting illustrated in Figs. 7, 8, and 9 is preferably employed. This bridge casting substantially corresponds in construction to the bridge casting L, but the sockets or chambers for the reception of the springs are made somewhat deeper by extending the forward portions of the castings, as shown at L in Figs. 7 and 9. WVith this form of the spring cup or bridge casting, the employment of a bottom plate M and strap irons O are unnecessary and the bridge casting or spring cup may be held down in place by bolts passingthrough the elongated openings Z in the bridge casting and through openings Z* in the side casting G. The openings Z being elongated will prevent bufling strains transmitted to the spring cup or bridge casting when the parts go solid from being transmitted to the side castings and thus the latter will be guarded against possible destruction, although it will be understood that strains sufficiently heavy to cause a yielding 0f the end sill, for instance severe collision strains, will bring the cooperating parts into engagement in such wise that not only the I- beams but the side castings, buffer beam and end sill, will all operate as a unit to resist destruction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In buffing mechanism for railway cars, the combination with the I-beams forming longitudinal sills and the end sill and a buffer beam secured on the top flanges of the I-beams, of a buifing mechanism embodying separate side castings resting on the Lbeams and bridged between and having their outer and inner ends abutting directly against the buifer beam and end sill, respectively, a spring cup casting bridging and having its extremities interlocked with the inner ends of the side castings and resting against and held against inward movement by the end sill, a buffer and yielding pressure resisting members housed by the side castings and interposed between the spring cup casting and buifer; whereby strains will be transmitted from the buffer through the yielding members and cup casting directly to the end sill and from the buffer beam through the side castings directly to the end sill.

2. In bufling mechanism for railway cars, separate side castings between which the center yielding pressure resisting members are confined transversely, each of said castings having an integral outwardly projecting housing for a side stem follower, an independent bridging casting interlocked transversely with the rear ends of the side castings, and means independent of the side castings for supporting the bridging casting against movement rearwardly on the side castings.

3. In buffing mechanism for railway cars,

the combination with the I-beams constituting longitudinal sills, the buffer beam and end sill mounted on the I-beams, of independent side castings secured to the I- beams in proximity to the buflfer beam and each abutting against the bufier beam and end sill and a separate casting having its transverse extremities interlocked with the rear ends of the side castings in proximity to the end sill whereby the parts are held against independent lateral movement and each of said castings may transmit inward pressure to the end sill independently of the other.

4. In bufling mechanism for railway cars, a pair of independent side castings having ways on their proximate faces for the center yielding members and brackets on their outer faces for the side yielding members, and abridging casting forming an abutment for the center yielding members, said bridging casting having hook-like extensions overlapping and engaging the side castings whereby the parts are held against independent transverse movement.

5. In buffing mechanism for railway cars, the combination with the independent side castings having ways on their proximate faces for center yielding members, of a bridging casting for the inner ends of the side castings and having extensions interlocking with the side castings and intermediate parallel chambers for the inner springs of the yielding members, the rear faces of the side and bridging castings being in the same plane.

RICHARD D. GALLAGHER, JR.

Witnesses:

GEORGE D. THOMPSON, HEINRICH SQHNELLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

